Salinity is a serious challenge to global agriculture and threatens human food security. plant cells can respond to salt stress either by activation of adaptive responses, or by programmed cell death. the mechanisms deciding the respective response are far from understood, but seem to depend on the degree, to which mitochondria can maintain oxidative homeostasis. Using plant peptoQ, a Trojan Peptoid, as vehicle, it is possible to transport a coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) derivative into plant mitochondria. We show that salinity stress in tobacco BY-2 cells (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Bright Yellow-2) can be mitigated by pretreatment with plant PeptoQ with respect to numerous aspects including proliferation, expansion, redox homeostasis, and programmed cell death. We tested the salinity response for transcripts from nine salt-stress related-genes representing different adaptive responses. While most did not show any significant response, the salt response of the transcription factor NtNAC, probably involved in mitochondrial retrograde signaling, was significantly modulated by the plant peptoQ. Most strikingly, transcripts for the mitochondrial, Mn-dependent Superoxide Dismutase were rapidly and drastically upregulated in presence of the peptoid, and this response was disappearing in presence of salt. the same pattern, albeit at lower amplitude, was seen for the sodium exporter SOS1. The findings are discussed by a model, where plant PeptoQ modulates retrograde signalling to the nucleus leading to a strong expression of mitochondrial SoD, what renders mitochondria more resilient to perturbations of oxidative balance, such that cells escape salt induced cell death and remain viable. By the year 2050, world agriculture should be able to boost production of food crops by 70% to feed the projected 9.1 billion people 1. Salt stress is one of the major challenges to this effort and has already affected 20% of cultivated land worldwide. Global warming and suboptimal irrigation accentuate the problem 2,3. The molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms underlying the severe effect of salinity on plant growth, development and yield have been reviewed comprehensively 3-5. Based on their response to salt stress, plants are categorised into the tolerant halophytes and the sensitive glycophytes. Unfortunately, most of the crop species belong to the